Adidas Successfully Blocks Two-Stripe Trademark

The European Union General Court in Luxembourg has ruled in favor of Adidas in its attempt to block Belgian footwear company Shoe Branding Europe from trademarking a two-stripe design on shoes, according to The New York Times.

This decision will allow Adidas to oppose any trademark attempt by the brand for a parallel two-stripe design on its footwear. It affirmed previous rulings by the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The ruling claimed that allowing Shoe Branding Europe to trademark would risk "taking unfair advantage of Adidas’ earlier mark."

Shoe Branding Europe originally applied for the trademarks in 2009 and 2011 with the European Union Intellectual Property Office for footwear and safety footwear, respectively. Adidas opposed the filings due to the marking's close similarity to the brand's iconic Three Stripes logo being potentially detrimental to the sportswear brand. Both of the original applications were refused in 2015 and 2016.

An official press release on the most recent decision partially reads, "In particular, EUIPO considered that, given a certain degree of similarity between the marks at issue, the identity or the similarity between the goods covered by those marks and the high reputation of Adidas’ earlier mark, there was a likelihood that the relevant public might establish a link between the marks at issue and that the use of the marks applied for could take unfair advantage of the reputation of adidas’ mark, without that use being, in the case at hand, justified by due cause.​"

This is not the end of the battle between Adidas and Shoe Branding Europe. According to The Fashion Law, the two brands are involved in a separate proceeding filed in 2014 by Shoe Branding Europe claiming that Adidas' Three Stripe mark is not a valid trademark registration. The decision was made by EUIPO's Second Board of Appeal to side with Shoe Branding's claim, and remove Adidas' logo from the EU Trademark Registrar. Of course, Adidas appealed this decision. A hearing regarding the appeal is set to take place later on this year.